In Vatican City, Pope Benedict XVI's butler, Paolo Gabriele, went to trial on Saturday. He was charged with aggravated theft for stealing the pope's confidential papers, including personal letters to the pope, and leaking them to the press. His co-defendant, Claudio Sciarpelletti, is a computer expert who was accused of aiding Gabriele, but did not attend the proceedings. The two-hour hearing was held in a courtroom in a palazzo behind the apse of St. Peter's Basilica. Gabriele has admitted to taking the documents and some of the leaked documents "opened an especially unflattering vista onto some questionable administrative practices as well as inner wrangling at the Vatican." Mr. Gabriele passed some of the documents to an Italian journalist who then published it in his book, "His Holiness: The Secret Papers of Pope Benedict XVI." Records show that Gabriele's intent was to expose the "evil and corruption everywhere in the church" so that the church would be brought back on the right path. Gabriele will serve time in an Italian prison if he is convicted since Vatican City does not have a prison system. Furthermore, if he is indeed convicted, many believe he will receive the papal pardon he asked for in a letter written to the pope asking for his forgiveness.
More information at: http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.noctrl.edu/nationalnewsexpanded/docview/1081215375/1397DC0FEE61F55B83E/15?accountid=44854
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/09/pope-benedict-butler-vatican-trial-begins.html
Amanda Ngo
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